Surgical clip appliers are commonly used for ligating blood vessels, ducts, shunts, or a portion of body tissue during surgery. Most clip appliers typically have a handle with an elongate shaft having a pair of movable opposed jaws formed on an end thereof for holding and forming a ligation clip therebetween. The jaws are positioned around the vessel or duct, and the clip is crushed or formed on the vessel by the closing of the jaws.
Clip appliers that are configured to deliver multiple clips typically include an advancer mechanism that sequentially advances the clips into the jaws of the clip applier. One problem associated with advancer mechanisms is that there is generally no indication of when the clip applier is out of clips. In the middle of a procedure, a surgeon or other user may continue squeezing the trigger of a clip applier to apply clips even after the last clip has been applied. With no indication otherwise from the clip applier, the surgeon may believe he is closing an incision or other opening in tissue when he is not. Such a mistake could be dangerous to the patient, and at a minimum, could cost the surgeon valuable time in having to repeat at least a portion of the closing procedure.
Accordingly, there remains a need for improved methods and devices for applying surgical clips to vessels, ducts, shunts, etc.